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SPEECH 

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HON. JAMES HUMPHREY, 



OF NEW YORK, 



DELTVERED IN TUE 



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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, FEBlW-^^R^ 67Ht8^V:\ 



The Ilouse having nnder consideration the report from 
tlie select committee of thirty-three — 

Mr. HUMPHREY said: [ 

Mr. Speaker : The debates of this sessiou of 
Congress present a most extraordinary spectacle 
to the world. We are here in the Capitol of the 
United States. This is the Congress of the Uni- 
ted States — the great centi'al, controlling depart- 
mentof the Federal Government. We constitute 
the popular branch of that Congress, standing 
nearest the people ; their immediate K.eprcseata- 
tives, commissioned by them to exercise for them 
that sovereignty which they, in the plenitude of 
their power, have conferred on the Federal Gov- 
ernment. And each of us is bound by the most 
solemn act which can be performed in this world — 
by that pledge which makes God its witness, and, 
if violated, its avenger — to maintain the Consti- 
tution of that Government in our own hearts, by 
our own acts, and against all enemies. And yet, 
sir, it is here, in both Chambers of this Capitol, 
that we have had the strange, sad spectacle of 
men to whose protecting care this Government 
has been committed, who still bore its commis- 
sions, and had not yet abjured their allegiance, 
tasking the powers of intellects trained in the 
subtlest schools of legal casuistry to drain and 
exhaust, one by one, the vital forces of the Con- 
stitution ; rustling their senatorial robes, and 
jostling each other in their eager and indecent 
haste to surrender its franchises, to cripple its 
powers, and to sully its honor. j 

Sir, the question which has been cast upon 
this generation to decide, and which confronts us 
now, is, whether this national Government of 
ours is a splendid delusion or a reality — a house 
of cards, to be demolished by a breath, or an 
enduring structure, resting on immovable foun- 
dations, like the great stones of the Capitol, laid 
far down out of sight, by Cyclopean builders. 
For one, I have lived and expect to die in the 
latter faith. AVe have not gone on for seventy 
years exercising all the highest functions of a 
great nation, levying war, concluding peace, 
making treaties, borrowing hundreds of millions 
of dollars, in all the markets of the world, to 
confess at this late day that we have been an 



impudent, though till now a successful Pre- 
tender. 

Mr. Speaker, I regard all other questions as 
utterly insignificant in the presence of this new 
heresy of State supremacy and State secession. 
The moment that principle is acknowledged, our 
j whole political system is pronounced a failure, 
and this great Government, so long the wonder 
of the world, for its admirable union of flexibility 
and strength, of individual liberty and national 
power, falls into hopeless ruin. Nothing will 
then remain for us but an immediate choice be- 
tween two inevitable alternatives : to be broken 
up into petty discordant Republics, or to address 
[Ourselves to the task of organizing a new con- 
solidated Government, in which the liberties of 
the citizen or the subject must be subordinated 
to the power and greatness of the State. 

I do not now propose to discuss at length these 
new doctrines. These fatal errors all rest, in 
my judgment, upon false ideas of State sover- 
eignty. There has been so much loose talking 
on this subject that it may not be a waste of the 
time of the House to subject it for a few moments 
to the test of historical scrutiny. 

The popular phrase of the day is, that the 
States are about to " resume their original sov- 
ereignty ! " 

Sir, I will not stop to ask when it was that 
such a State as Florida, which we first bought 
with our money, and then rendered habitable by 
vast expenditures ; which we found a wretched 
provincial dependency of Spain, and, with gen- 
erous bounty, raised to the name and dignity of 
a State — a rank which, to this hour, she could 
not sustain a month, unprotected by a stronger 
power — every man, woman, and child in which 
has cost this Government a round thousand dol- 
lars per capita ; I will not stop to inquire when it 
was that such a State was ever, in any proper 
sense of the term, an independent sovereignty, 

I turn from those States which now lift their 
parricidal hands againstthe author of their being, 
to the time-honored Thirteen. Sir, if South Car- 
olina be now, indeed, a sovereign and indepen- 
dent State, I take leave to say that she has en- 
joyed that transcendent dignity and power but 



\ 



.\4^^ 



two short months in all the time since the colo- 
nists sent out by Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftes- 
bury, landed npon the banks of the rivers to 
which his names were given. Sir, at what mo- 
ment of time did South Carolina ever stand 
among the nations of the earth as a sovereign 
State, exercising the supreme powers which per- 
tain to that condition ? When did she achieve 
for herself that independence of which she 
boasts ? Nay, sir, that I may not seem to rest 
this argument on any comparison of services in 
the revolutionary struggle, when did even Mass- 
achusetts, whose flaming sword shone ever far 
in the front of that struggle ; who contributed 
to it more men and munitions of war than all 
the southern States united; when did even 
Massachusetts declare, or achieve, or possess aj 
separate independent nationality? Gentlemen 
speak of this Union as if thirteen separate 
States or E,epublics, each possessed of all the 
attributes of highest sovereignty, long used 
to the exercise of all supreme powers, ac- 
customed to declare war, to conclude peace, 
to negotiate solemn treaties, and to confer with 
coequal potentates through stately embassies, 
had met at Philadelphia in 1787, each repre-' 
eented by grave plenipotentiary ambassadors,! 
and there had formed a league for certain com- 
mercial and military purposes, revocable at the 
will of either of the high contracting powers, j 

Mr. Speaker, these thirteen independent na-^ 
tions never existed except in the bi'aius of polit- 
ical theorists. He is a superficial student of our 
constitutional history who does not lecognize the 
idea that union long preceded the idea of inde- 
pendency, and that nationality had its origin 
long before State sovereignty was dreamed of. 
The germ of our American unity was planted 
almost as early as the first seed-corn was cast 
into the quick anu virgin bosom of the New 
World. This sentiment of nationality found its 
outward expression at the earliest periods, in 
formal confederacies of the colonies. 

In 1G43, the four New England colonies, Plym- 
outh, Massachusetts Eay, Hartford, and New 
Haven, only five years after Davenport set up 
his " seven pillars " in the latter beautiful plain, 
entered into a "union," which they styled " a 
firm and perfect league," comprised in twelve 
articles of confederation, and providing for an 
annual "Congress" of two commissioners from 
each colony. There is no time in this short hour 
to trace this ever-growing priucii-.le of national- 
ity through the succeeding century of colonial 
existence ; but no fact stands out more clearly [ 
than that when, at last, the people began to gird 
themselves for the assertion of independence, it 
v/as as one nation. The first movements looked 
to united action. 

It was for " our American liberties " that 
James Otis spoke, with his tongue of fire, in 
Faneuil Hall ; while, from out the heart of Vir- 
ginia, Patrick Henry thundered back his denun- 
ciations of the " Boston port bill." On the Gth 
of June, 1765, Otis advised, in the House of 
Representatives of Boston, tue calling of a Con-! 
gress in New York in Ociobvr fullowing, which! 
motion was adopted. Mark the language of this, 
forerunner of the Revolution, whose words! 



seemed sometimes to partake of a prophetic 

ecstasy : 

" We must have a Union which shall knit nnd work into 
the very b)octl and bones of the original system every re- 
gion as fast as settltd." 

Sir, the first State to respond was South Car- 
olina, through Christopher Gadsden ; the next 
was Georgia ; then followed Pennsylvania, Rhode 
Island, Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland. The 
Congress met in October, 17G5 ; and it was then 
that Christopher Gadsden uttered the sentiment 
of all hearts : 

^ " There ought to he no New England man, no New 
Yorker, known on the continent; but all of us Ameri- 
cans." 

Hear again the noble words of this South Car- 
olinian of the olden time : 

" Nothing will save us but acting together. The prov- 
ince that endeavors to act separately must fall with the 
rest, and be branded besides with everlasting infamy." 

Ten years passed away, and this complete na- 
tional oneness was announced to the world in 
the most solemn act of union ever pioclaimed 
by any people. The Declaration of Independ- 
ence was also a declaration of indivisible na- 
jtionality. In its own very first words, it was- 
i"0NE PKCfpLE " which theuassumed their "sepa- 
rate and equal station among the Powers of the 
earth," and, as such, demanded and obtained 
xecoguition. Read the immortal State papers 
of that revolutionary Congress, which drew 
forth the fervent praises of Chatham and Burke, 
land see how instinct they are with nationalitj'. 
! Mr. Speaker, I think a more careful historical 
review than I have time now to make, will vin- 
dicate the truth of the following propositions : 

1. The colonies, prior to the Revolution, were 
dependencies of the Crown of Great Britain, 
owning allegiance to it, and asserting no sepa- 
rate sovereignty. 

2. During this colonial existence, the people, 
while preserving the separate franchises con- 
tained in their charters and certain distinct 
municipal institutions, grew naturally together 
[into one nation, comprising not a league merely, 
but an integral organization. 

3. When the time came to assert a distinct 
nationality, the erection of twelve or thirteen 
petty republics entered into no man's imagina- 
tion, but the people established the first rudi- 
mentary form of a national Government. They 
organized a rowEK, which they called a Congress, 
investing it with some of the highest prerogatives 
of sovereignty. 

4. This power, representing the national will, 
declared the colonies to be independent, not of 
each other, but of the Kingdom of Great Britain, 
ilt levied war, achieved the independence thus 
declared, and concluded peace. 

I 5. The independence thus achieved was that 
of "the United States," not of any separate 
iState. The States were called sovereign; but 
|the sovereignty of neither was inherent, self-de- 
'rived, nor did it ever exist in severalty. It was 
achieved and upheld by the United States, was 
qualified by its relations to that organization 
which represented the whole nation, and was, 
in an important sense, dependent upon the con- 



federated Power to which it owed such attributes tenacious roots more deeply into its native earth 
of soveVei^nty as it did possess. as it wrestled with revolutionary storms, at last 

6. No State, therefore, even under the old attained its mature proportions and its full, con- 
Confederation, could in good faith, after the sumraate flower. 

peace, have repudiated its connection with the I do not enter upon the argument drawn from 
rest, and thus have deprived the whole of that the language of the Constitution and the declared 
national unity which all had fought to establish, opinions of its framer.-;. That argument was ex- 
Thus it was properly called a "perpetual hausted thirty years ago, in this Capitol, iu tho>-e 
Union." great orations which have been rescued by the-r 

7. The old Congress exercised the highest at- genius and eloquence from the quick mortality 
tributes of sovereignty — forming alliances with which waits upon congressional debates, and 
foreign Powers, accrediting embassador.'--, nego- will live so long as the Constitution lives, which 
tiating loans, issuing bills of credit, signing and we fondly hope will be immortal, 
confirming treaties, declaring and conducting ' Sir, I do not mean to waste my short hour in 
war, and concluding peace. And the citizens of discussing the right of secession. I designed 
the whole country sustained its supremacy, only to suggest how idle it is for States to be 
transferring, in effect, their allegiance from the solemnly "resuming" a sovereignty which they 
Crown of Great Britain, in all matters of na- never for an instant possessed. 

tional concern, to this new Government of the | But, sir, it is no longer an issue to be met by 
United States, as an integral political power. argument. Six States of this Union have already 

8. At last, when the nation outgrew this or- declared their purpose to maintain it by an ap- 
ganization, the people formed "a new and more peal to arms. Others assert the same right, and 
perfect Union " under our present Constitution, threaten to exercise it, unless certain demands 

Mr. KUNKEL. Will the gentleman from New are complied with. The question, then, which 
York yield the floor a moment ? jconfronts us is: shall this right be conceded ? 

Mr. HUMPHREY Certainly. Before this issue all other questions vanish out 

Mr. KUNKEL. So far as Maryland is con- of sight. On its decision the very existence of 
cerned, the gentleman from New York is in the Government hangs suspended. Questions of 
error. That State declined to r itify and sign slavery and anti-slavery ; of territorial occupa- 
the Artiules of Confederation, and remained out tion; of fugitive slave laws and personal liberty 
of the Confederacy long after independence was bill, are all trivial and temporary in the compar- 
declared. ison of this. They regard the policy and the ad- 

Mr. HUMPHREY. True; but during those ministration of the State. This touches its life, 
two years jiaryland was in no sense independ- Compromises, concessions, are of small impor- 
ent. The honorable gentleman refers to the tance now, except as they affect this overshadow- 
Articles of Confederation, signed by most of the ing issue. When they are proposed, I have but 
States in 1779. These articles did not create one question first to ask : will their discussion 
the Union. They simply defined the powers of concede this right of secession? If it may be so 
the existing Union, and made it perpetual, construed, then I dare not take one step in that 
Maryland had for years been a member of that direction. What seems to some the unyielding 
Union. Her delegates sat in Congress during attitude of the Republican party in this great 
the whole of this period in which she withheld crisis, may perhaps find some apology with gen- 
that formal ratification, and had joined in that ierous minds who appreciate this exigency of its 
most solemn act of Union, the Declaration of In- position. The distinguished gentleman from 
dependence. I need not say how well that noble North Carolina, whose eloquent appeals the 
State performed her part in supporting this uni- other day on this floor touched all hearts, refer- 
ted declaration. Sir, I have a right to speak on red, reproachfully but Idmlly, to what seemed to 
this subject, for in the city in which I live, in a him almost indifference on this side of the Cham- 
beautiful wofd, now happily perpetually reserved ber. Nay, nay, say not that it is a " cold, icy 
for a public park, there is a quiet ravine which stoicism " that repels your warm appeals. If we 
once resounded with the clash of arms. There, iare motionless amid this convulsion, it is not 
sir, in the disastrous battle of Long Island, an from insensibility ; but because, standing now 
entire Maryland regiment, the flower of the upontheConstitutionof our fathers, wecantindno 
youth of that gallant State, surrounded by over- other solid ground on which to plant anadvanc- 
po wering numbers of British and Hessian troops, ing footstep. Believe me, this is no " sullen si- 
were literally cut to pieces, disdaining to sur lence " that reigns on this side of the Chamber, 
render, and fighting to the last for the liberties when you appeal to us to ofler concession to save 
of the United States, upon the soil of New York, the Union. It is a solemn fear that such con- 
Sir, I cannot accept a disclaimer which would cessions may prove its speedy and complete dis- 
separate Maryland for a single day from that memberment. 

Union in behalf of which she offered up this! I speak not now of the States which have 
precious s.acrifice. already revolted, which have seized our forts, 

Thus, Mr. Speaker, this national germ, shoot-' fired upon our vessels, plundered our treasuries, 
ing up at first almost unobserved among thosej'and are in armed rebellion. I have yet to see 
other precious growths, liberty, learning, civili- the first loyal citizen who proposes to offer any 
zation, religion, in the earliest spring time of our tprm-i to these men till they have returned to 
history, growing, by the inwarci forces of its or- their allegiance. True men do not negotiate 
ganic life, developing gradually from rudiment-, , with traitors. Government does not compound 
ary to more and more perfect forms, striking itsliwith treason. But for those States which remain 



loyal, which abide by the Constitution and the 
Union in this hour of peril ; which falter not in 
this time of trial, I know not what rational de- 
mand they would make which I could refuse. I; 
know not what generous concessions which did! 
not involve the surrender of some vital principle' 
could be withheld from them. AVhat we cannot 
yield to menace without dishonor, we may grace- 
fully offer to a friendly hand. We cannot avert 
secession by compromise, because that would be 
the most distinct recognition of secession as a 
right. We cannot purchase allegiance, for that 
would be to admit the right to withhold it. 

Mr. Speaker, I believe that I speak the senti- 
ments of the Republican party, when I say that 
so long as we were left free to act with the just 
respect due to ourselves and to the Government, 
we were inclined to give the most favorable con- 
sideration to every complaint of injury, from 
whatever quarter it might come. To those who 
sought redress within the Union, and under the 
Constitution, for real or fancied wrongs, we were 
ever ready to listen, and no grievance would bel 
unheard or unredressed. i 

It was in this spirit that the committee of thir- 
ty-three entered upon its duties. It was in thisl 
spirit that I, as member of that committee, gave! 
my consent to a portion of its measures. But 
since those votes were taken, events more rapid 
than our careful steps have cf)mpletely changed 
the aspect of the question. With the Gulf States 
it has become simply a question of power; with 
the other slaveholding States, I hope it is still a 
question of loyalty ; but with neither, I fear, is 
it longer a question of compromise. This is not 
the time for nicely weighing adjustments and 
measuring out reciprocal concessions. Other 
elements have now entered into the problem, and 
must control its solution. 

Mr. Speaker, before we euter upon any plan 
of adjustment of these unhappy controversies, it 
would seem to be most important to be well as- 
sured that the proposed measures will be ac- 
cepted as a complete and satisfactory settle- 
ment. If, in the face of those menaces of seces- 
sion, but protesting against any recognition ofj 
that fatal principle, we should adopt the meas- 
ures of this committee, what encouragement! 
have we to believe that they will be satisfactory! 
even to the border States ? The territorial propo-' 
sition — the consent to admit New Mexico as a! 
State, and thus forever to extinguish the whole 
subject of controversy by disposing of all the 
territory to which a question can attach, the! 
only mode of adjustment, I fear, which will not| 
compromise the principles on which a great 
party has just been intrusted with power, andj 
which will not shock the moral sense of more 
than half the people of the Union — this proposi- 
tion met too little favor, I thought, with south-i 
ern gentlemen in committee, and I fear finds less 
in th^s House. Two distinguished members — ! 
the gentleman from Virginia and the gentleman' 
from Tennessee — reject it here as they did in 
committee. If even those gentlemen, so patri- 
otic, so devoted to the Union, cannot lend to the, 
measure the sanction of their celebrated names 
and wide influence, what can we hope to effect 
by it ? 



Sir, I feel sensibly the objections which are 
urged on this side of the House to the adoption 
of this measure, growing out of the present con- 
dition of this Territory; but after resorting to all 
means of information to which I have had access, 
I am satisfied that these objections have been 
overstated; and at all events, I am sure that this 
Territory is in a far better condition for admis- 
sion than Florida was when she was received, 
and I might perhaps extend the parallel to other 
States. 

Sir, this mode of settling this vexed territorial 
question seems to me to be complete and final in 
itself, and consistent with the honor and dignity 
jof all parties and sectiisus. I do not regard it as 
a " concession " or a "compromise," words to 
the sound of which my friends are so nervously 
sensitive. It simply is a mode of removing the 
cause of quarrel. It effectually relieves the Fed- 
eral Government from all complicity with sla- 
very. It calls for no recognition, extension, or 
protection of this institution. It submits the 
question to be decided at once by the parties to 
whom, by universal consent, its final decision is 
to be referred — the people, in the formation of 
their State constitution. Aside from the con- 
ceded right of every State to determine this 
question for itself, this right is specially pledged 
to this people by the provisions of the organic 
act of 1850, by the condition of the cession of the 
territory of Texas, by a law which partakes also, 
in a degree, of the faith of a contract and the 
sacredness of a treaty. Surely, if New JMexico 
were now at our doors, with her constitution in 
her hand, we could not refuse her admission, 
whatever might be the provisions of that consti- 
tution on the subject of slavery. Nor is it now 
a point to be considered, either by the North or 
by the South, how the people may decide this 
question. If they decide it in favor of freedom — 
as I confidently believe they will do — they will 
!but exercise a right which no one denies to them. 
[As was well said by the gentleman from Texas, 
Inobody now proposes to force slavery upon an 
'unwilling people. If the soil and climate are not 
adapted to slavery, and if the people are not 
friendly to it, (as after much careful inquiry I 
jfeel well assured they are not,) the South will 
submit without complaint to the inevitable re- 
Isult. 

But, Mr. Speaker, at this critical time I cannot 
agree to present any proposition which is not 
invited and accepted in a friendlj' spirit, which 
does not restore the ancient fraternal feeling, 
which does not settle forever these questions 
which distrub our peace, and restore the author- 
ity and insure the perpetuity of the national 
Government. I greatly fear that this is not the 
time to accomplish these great results. 

Here, again, the doctrine of secession confronts 
us. This must be abandoned, as a first condi- 
tion ; for I take it, sir, we do not propose to ad- 
mit New Mexico as a State to-day, to enable her 
to walk coollj' off with Texas to-morrow. Two 
coniitions should attend all measures of concili- 
ation intended to remove popular discontents : 

First, they should reach the true causes of 
complaint. I believe, sir, no one supposes that 
any propositions of compromise, which havt 



come from any quarter, would propitiate South 
Carolina, or perhaps any of the seceded States. 
To those who have revolted, or propose to re- 
volt, because a President has been elected who is 
not their choice, or because the power and pa- 
tronage of the Government is for a time passing 
into other hands, it is idle to offer proposals of 
concession which do not touch the real griev- 
ances. This reason is disowned bj' some, but not 
by all who have entered upon this revolt. If I 
do not greatly err, I have heard it avowed in 
this debate by more than one member represent- 
ing a State which has not yet abjured her allegi- 
ance. I must confess, sir, that the votes of^ 
many gentlemen in the committee upon a reso- 
lation introduced by the honorable member from 
Massachusetts, [Mr. Adams,] which I find omit- 
ted in the printed proceedings, but is sufficient- 
ly stated in his minority report, that these very 
significant votes produced in my mind a painful 
fear that the committee had wasted its time on 
unimportant issues, while the true causes of 
complaint remained, not only untouched, but 
unavowed. At all events, sir, we should certainly' 
know, before any action is taken, whether thisis 
the governing reason; for if it be, then it is not a 
question of conciliation, but of surrender. There 
is but one mode of completely relieving the con- 
troversy of this element, which no compromise 
can reach. Let the elected President be regu- 
larly and peacefully inaugurated; and'^thenlet us 
address ourselves to those subjects of difl'erence 
which shall be presented in good faith for ad- 
justment. 

A second condition which should apply to all 
propositions of conciliation is, that they shall 
be consistent with the honor and the dignity of 
the Government. A majority of the people have 
just elected a Chief ;Magistrate, and elevated the 
Piepublican party to power. The very existence 
of the Govei-nment depends upon the acqui- 
escence of the minority in that election and the 
inauguration of the elected President. No con- 
cession can be granted as a condition of such 
assumption of power without the complete dis- 
honor of those who yield it, and the utter pros- 
tration of the authority of the State. The very 
fear of such a construction may prevent propo- 
sitions in themselves just and honorable. What 
must be refused to menace, might be gracefully 
yiehled to loyal request. 

For these reasons, ^Mr. Speaker, I have very 
great doubts whether these grave difficulties can 
be settled by this Congress. I think that the 
great duties of pacificating the country and rein- 
vigorating the Government must both be cast 
upon the incoming Administration. I believe 
it will prove itself equal to the delicate and diffi- 
cult task. It wilt bring to the work harmonious 
counsels, 'energetic purposes, patriotic impulses, 
and large wisdom. It will act freely without 
suspicion of fear or consciousness of weakness. 
It will have power which is now everywhere 
wanted to concentrate and to lead public opinion. 
It will act independently of the petty prejudices 
of the day, for it will move in the domain of 
history. It may have at an early day the aid 
of a Congress fresh from the people, not embit- 
tered as we have been by two years of intensest 



conflict. I look forward to that Administration 
with steadfast trust and cheerful hope. But 
thirty days now intervene before it assumes the 
vast responsibilities which await it. On it will 
then rest the awful duty of saving the Republic 
frym impending ruin. Let us hope it may 
prove equal to the task which we relinquish and 
worthy of the glory which is denied to our dis- 
tracted counsels. AVhen the authority of the 
Government is re-established ; when order is 
restored ; when the tone of the popular mind is 
recovered, then will come the time for new and 
nice adjustments of constitutional guarantees; 
and then let every grievance be redressed in 
conformity with dignity and honor, and what is 
Ifar higher than either, the principles of eternal 
justice. Thus and thus only can this great na- 
tion be preserved in its integrity. Then gener- 
osity will not be mistaken for fear, and liberal, 
mutual concessions will strengthen the Govern- 
ment which they might now demoralize. 
I l\Ir. Speaker, I think the difficulty of arriving 
now at a practical plan of adjustment has been 
greatly increased by the character of the propo- 
sitions which have been insisted on in the com- 
mittee and in Congress. The most prominent 
of these is that which is commended to the favor 
of the country by the distinguished name it 
bears — the Crittenden proposition. Sir, what is 
called by many very intluential southern gentle- 
men the vital feature of this plan — the pro- 
vision for future acquired territory — has been 
sufficiently commented on by the distinguished 
gentleman from Massachusetts. 
1 Mr. Speaker, when was it ever before suggest- 
'ed in the history of the world that a Christian 
nation should incorporate into its fundamental 
law a provision declaring the terms upon wliich 
it would divide up the territories of neighboring 
and fi'iendly States? Sir, when did a great and 
prosperous and happy people ever before break 
up their own Government and rush into civil 
war in a quarrel over the anticipated spoil of 
foreign provinces not yet invaded ? AVhy, sir, 
the banditti of southern Italy first plunder the 
traveller before they fall out over the booty. 
The robber-chiefs of the middle ages, the found- 
ers of European despotisms — Henry the Hawker 
and Rudolph of Hapsburg — fir-it overran the 
weaker provinces around their strong-holds 
before they parceled out their conquests by the 
sword which had won them. 

But, sir, if you strike out this provision, this 
proposition can never have my vote. Never, with 
my consent, shall the Constitution of these 
United States ordain and protect human slavery 
in any Territory. Where it exists by law I will 
recognize it, and defend the rights of the mas- 
ter; but" never, by any act of mine, shall it be 
extended over one acre of free territor3\ But 
gentlemen say, it already exists by the Consti- 
tution in all the Territories. The gentlemen 
from Virginia and from Tennessee say that this 
bill, in fact, involves a concession from the South 
to the North, for it proposes to exclude the 
already existing institution of slavery from all 
the vast Territories north of latitude 30° ?,(\\ 
and they cite the authority of the Dred Scntt 
case. Mr. Speaker, I am not going to weary 



6 



anybody with a discussion of that case. What' 
it in fact did or did not decide, is of no momentl 
■with me. When cited here, in this House, as a 
decision upon a point of constitutional construc- 
tion, 1 simply deny its authority. 

I listened, last evening, with great pleasure, 
to the able and eloquent speech of the honora-i 
ble gentleman from Kentucky, [Mr. jMoore,] 
and I was so much delighted with its excellent] 
tone and patriotic devotion to the Union that I 
am unwilling to take exception to any portion 
of it. But I will venture to say that, if I rightly 
understood his argument in relation to the prov 
ince and authority of the Supreme Court, in the 
construction of the Constitution, and the duty of. 
Congress to be governed by those decisions, in 
all cases, I diifer widely from his conclusions. 
The result of his argument would seem to me to 
erect this tribunal into an arbitrary and abso-| 
lute political Council, holding office for life, with-j 
out responsibility to the people ; with power toi 
change the Constitution at will, and to issue its 
decrees like the rescripts of an emperor. 

Mr. SIMMS. My colleague is not in his seat; 
and it is but just for me to say that the gentle- 
man does not state his position correctly. 

Mr. HUMrHRKY. This heresy is not, by any 
means, peculiar to the gentleman's colleague. I 
do not confine it to him, though it formed an im- 
portant part of his speech. 

Mr. SIMMS. I ask that the gentleman will 
allow me for a single moment. 

Mr. HUxMPHREY. With pleasure, if it is not 
to be taken out of my time. 

Several Members. It will be. 

Mr. HUMPHREY. Then I cannot yield. The 
gentleman must excuse me. I have much more 
to say than I have time to say it in. 

Mr. SIMMS. Well, sir, the gentleman mis- 
represents the position of my colleague. 

Mr. HUMPHREY. I listened to the speech^ 
of the gentleman from Kentucky, last night, with 
very great attention, and I do not intend to mis- 
represent him. I shall not again refer to him, 
as he is not present, but will comment on this 
doctrine — not a new one here — which would 
regulate the action of this Goverumeut by the 
decisions of the Supreme Court, a moment 
further. 

Sir, I desire to speak with great respect of that 
venerable court. The habits and studies of my 
life have taught me to defer to the authority of 
the judges. I recognize the great power which 
the Constitution has conferred upon them. I 
yield to tbeir absolute authoriiy over individuals 
who are riglitiuUy before them for judgment; 
but their power, supreme as it is, is limited toi 
the parties and the case. It can reach no further.! 
The principle involved may be overruled byj 
themselves, or their successors, and it may be 
re-examined when it touches the meaning of the 
Constitution by every other department of the 
Government. It is not of verj' great importance 
in itself what political opinions these very learned 
gentlemen may choose to form and express ; but 
the question ns to the power and extent of the 
authoritj' which these opinions carry with them, 
has become one of the vital issues of the day. If 
this wide-reaching jurisdiction over the whole 



sweep of public affairs shall be acknowledged by 
the people, as it seems to have been by some 
statesmen, then the people will have found a 
master ; for the power to change the fundamen- 
tal law of a nation at will is equally supreme 
and despotic, whether placed in the hands of a 
jsingle Emperor at Paris, a Council of Ten in 
Venice, or a Court of Nine in Washington. 
; Mr. Speaker, I yield to no one in my respect 
for that court, when acting in its appropriate 
sphere. I recognize on that bench judges of 
great learning and worth. As a citizen, or a 
litigant, I am obliged to submit to their judg- 
ment in all cases to which I am a party, within 
their jurisdiction. As a lawyer pleading at 
;their bar, I bow to the authority of their ad- 
judged cases ; but as a legislator, when the con- 
stritction of that great charter from which we 
both alike derive all our power, and which we 
are equally sworn to maintain, is involved, as a 
'member of a co-ordinate and at least an equal 
branch of the common Government, their opin- 
ions with me, like those of all others, must stand 
or fall by their rendered reasons. Sir, I have 
an abiding faith that the people will never sub- 
mit, nor allow their Representatives to submit, 
to any such doctrine of final and infallible au- 
thority ; that they will never suffer this Con- 
stitution of theirs to be overlaid and smothered 
with legal j^recedents : will never permit its fair 
page to be scribbled over with the glosses of old 
lawyers, like a palimpsest, in which some grand 
and simple old classic is obliterated by the 
black-letter subtleties of a Chapter of chattering 
monks. 

I conclude, at all events, the principle of res 
adjudicata does not govern here. We at least 
can so far sink the technics of the lawyer as to 
banish from this House the conventional notion 
that the last adjudication is therefore the best. 
Sir, if we are indeed to accept the opinions of 
the Supreme Court as absolute authority to con- 
trol our votes here, I for one should prefer to 
choose the master by whose words I am to 
swear. I would go back to other days — to the 
Thompsons, the AVashingtons, the Storys, and 
above all, to the great Chief .Justice. Sir, when 
I compare the constitutional judgments of that 
illustrious jurist, who for so many years shed 
upon that tribunal the illuminations of his great 
mind, with the decisions of some more recent 
judges, in a late most celebrated case, I am al- 
:most tempted to exclaim with Cicero, when he 
icompared the Sophists and Sciolists of his day 
with his own great master in philosophy, Malo 
errare, mchercle, cum Platone quam cum istis vera 
sen I ire. 

Piccovering from this digression, I find my 
inexorable hour will not permit me to remark, 
as I had intended, in detail, on the other prop- 
ositions of this report. I proceed to another 
topic. 

Mr. Speaker, the fashionable phrase of the 
day now is reconstruction. Gentlemen speak 
with a coolness which ought in these times to be 
refreshing, of violently breaking up this great 
Government for the purpose of reconstructing a 
better out of its shattered fragments. Sir, in 
my judgment there can be no more fatal delu- 



sion than this. Once make the ?eparation com- 
plete, and you make it final. If the sjiirit of 
patriotism is so far extinct, if the ancient fra 



strives in vain adequately to punish with im- 
mortal infamy. Cut what language shall meas- 
ure the crime of him who strikes at the life of 



ternal feeling has so utterly died out, that wela vital principle of free government, which it 
are ready to overturn this structure, where and^ has cost thousands of lives to establish, and in 
when shall we look for such a revival of both as which the hopes and happiness of millions of 
shall suffice for its rebuilding ? Sir, if this Union others are involved ? 

were but an alliance, a league, a partnership, ! Mr. Speaker, what, after all, remains for us, 
or whatever other epithet of dishonor you choose but to stand to the last by this Government of 
to apply to express the lowest form of contract,{ our fathers ? The State of New York has already 
such a reconstruction would be impossible ; for^iSpoken in no uncertain tone. Seated between 
it could not take place without war, immediate the ocean and the great Mediterranean lakes, 
or proximate. When once kindred States have; with her imperial city by her side; one-fourth 
been torn asunder, and their borders have be- larger in population, and far, far greater in all 
come battle-fields, and their dissevered and the resources of military power, than were the 
bleeding edges have been cauterized by the fires thirteen States at the period of the Revolution, 
of war, what skillful surgery, what sweet me- she can play her part, thank God, in any drama 
dicaments of nature, what healing influences of that remains to be enacted on this continent, 
time, can ever reunite them ? [iBut she has taken her position. She will stand 

Eut, sir, political institutions are not lifeless, |by this Constitution with whatsoever other States, 
masses, to be shaped and matched and glued to- be they many or be they few, shall choose to 
gether at will by ingenious artisans. Great stand around her. 

States are not dead, geometrical forms, to be ' Mr. Speaker, whatever may be the fate of se- 
arranged and rearranged into a hundred curious ceding States, this Government will not be de- 
shapes, like a Chinese puzzle. They art^- vital stroyed. Nay, it will not be permanently weak- 
organizations, which determine their forms, not ened by this convulsion. It will, for centuries 
by external forces, but by the principle of life yet to come, be the commanding Power on this 
within them. This national Government, as I continent of North xVmerica ; and to it all other 
think I have shown, is the growth of more than Powers will be subordinate. A great maritime 
two centuries. It strikes its roots far back into nation, it must hold all the keys of the continent. 
the earliest colonial settlements; and when you Her navy will command all the seas which wash 
can reconstruct the oak which you have hewn its shores. Weaker nations, if any there be, 
limb from limb, you may reunite and revivify must submit to her occupation of such posts as 
the torn and dismembered body of the Pi,epublic.|iher military necessities require. She may not 
But, sir, this is not all. This ideal reconstruc-hcompel an unwilling people to share her power; 
lion is rendered forever impossible by the very but she will never permit that power to be in the 
act of dismemberment. Once establish the right least impaired. Her boundaries— ay, sir, her 
of secession, and you not only destroy this Union, boundaries, will be determined wholly by consid- 
but you destroy the living principle itself, with-| erations of military defence. Whatever is es- 
out which no Union can exist. 13e assured that sential to her national greatness she will retain, 
the States which remain loyal to this Constitu- She will keep open all the pathways of commerce 
tion will never become parties to a trumpery from every sea to the far interior. She will 
compact, which can be dissolved in secret ses-: unite both oceans with her iron roads; and she 
sion, by a packed convention of a single State, will advance with equal steps in her career of 
Whatever States shall tear themselves away by empire. When the first moments of incredulous 
revolutionary violence must return, if they return surprise shall have passed, and she shall have 
at all, with the recantation of this heresy on their performed her first duty of reoccupying the for- 
lips, and submissive to the true theory of the tresses which have been seized by insurgents, 
Constitution. ; and shall have vindicated the insulted majesty 

Mr. Speaker, the preservation of the peace, of of the law, tiicn it will be for her to determine 
the complete integrity, nay, even of the exist- whether she will maintain her jurisdiction over 
ence of this nation, is not the greatest trust that revolted States, or, with dignity and honor, by 
is now committed to this generation of men. some proper constitutional method, sanction 
War, civil war, is a calamity which no descrip- their withdrawal. If the latter more probable 
tion can exaggerate; the dismemberment of a event should occur, whatever new government 
nation is a dire catastrophe ; the extinction of a |shall thus be set up on this western continent, 
mighty empire is one of those grand, sad trage- must accept the relative position to which its 
dies which move with sceptercd pall at long in-' relative strength may entitle it. 
tervals before the eye of the world ; but all these ; If a portion of these States propose to inaugu- 
are not the utmost ills that can befall the race, rate a new and great experiment upon this 
Far more fatal to civilization and to humanity continent, in the establishmeiit of two confede- 
may be the extinction of a Ki/shin of government racies, lying side by side, the one based upon 
which unites the utmost capacity of national free labor, and the other upon chattel slavery, 
power and renown, and the most perfect protec- to run the race of greatness for a hundred years, 
tion of social order, with the highest degree of I, for my children and children's children, will 
individual liberty. He who takes the life of a accept the issue. One of these Powers will be 
just man commits a crime which he may expiate dominant, and the other will at last exist, as 
with his own. He who conspires against the some of the petty States of Europe exist, more 
life of a nation, commits a crime which history by permission than by any inherent strength. 



8 



Which this domiaant Power will be, I care not 
now to say ; but I am willing to abide the trial. 
It is safe to say that it will be that one which 
combines most of the elements which in these 
times go to make up a great nation. It will be 
that one which rests, not upon one form of in- 
dustry only, but upon the infinite diversity of 
pursuits which compose our modern civilization. 
It will be that one in which shall flourish most, 
agriculture in its best methods; manufactures in 
their endless variety of fabrics ; the mechanic 
arts in their countless forms; commerce searching 
every sea; science, literature, inventions super-! 
seding human labor ; all the nobler arts ; insti-; 
tutions of learning of every grade ; universal 
education ; all that sustains and adorns life, all 
that enters into the structure of that grandest of 
human creations — if it be not rather a divine! 
work — J, mighty State. 

I, for one, accept the position which the irre- 
pealable ordinances of nature shall decree for 
the State in which my fortunes are cast. If war 
shall come, as it will come — though I cannot con- 
template it with indifference — I abide its result 
with profound tranquillity. For the world will 
be taught again the old lesson, that national 
strength reposes in the homes of free labor ; that 
it springs up from the farm and out of the work- 
shop. And they who provoke the trial will find 
that a great English statesman said most truly, 
"no sword is sharper than that which is forged 
from the plowshare; no spear more deadly thauj 
that which is beaten from the pruning-hook." j 

And, sir, the most precious of all earthly pos-[ 
sessions, Constitutional Republican Liberty, is| 



still secure. It will remain comu^ted to the 
guardianship of a people equal to the sacred trust, 
and able to defend it against a world in arms. 
We have already had foreshadowed the erection, 
upon these shores, of Governments "strongly mili- 
tray" in their character; and, sir, whatever 
provincial oligarchies, whatever petty or power- 
ful despotisms may arise on our borders, the 
Republic of the United States of America will 
ever be as it has ever been, the champion of the 
liberties of the whole people. Whoever else 
may prove recreant, we can never give up that 
precious inheritance which our fathers brought 
with them to this continent and transmitted to 
as in yet more abundant measure. Not by our 
apostacy shall these inestimable rights of the 
people be betrayed and lost, only to be recovered 
iafter other centuries of heroic struggle and en- 
durance, — when other Elliots and Martens have 
perished in prison ; when other Miltons have 
grown blind, while their studious lamps "out- 
watched the Bear;" when other Hampdens have 
;fallen on the bloody field ; when other Russells 
have written and pleaded and suffered ; when 
other Sydneys have spent the long night in sol- 
ving the great problems of human Liberty, and 
then, when the morning came, have gone calmly 
;out to seal the written page with their blood. 

This birthright shall never be surrendered by 
us. It has been won on too many fields of stricken 
•battle ; it has been vindicated in too many tri- 
lumphant debates. To secure it, too many noble 
(victims have bowed their serene brows to the 
block; too many martyrs have lifted up unshak- 
|ing hands in the fire. 



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